Coronavirus: Passengers still stuck on Grand Princess ship docked at Port of Oakland

Last batch of passengers still stuck on cruise ship

Tom Vacar reports.

OAKLAND, Calif. - The final round of passengers left aboard the Grand Princess docked at the Port of Oakland is expected to get off the stricken cruise on Wednesday, or possibly on Thursday, officials said.

The bulk of the passengers have already disembarked and most of the Californians have been taken to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield; non-Californians have been flown to other federal bases or back to their home countries.

Officials hoped to remove the remaining passengers still stuck on the boat by Wednesday, but now there's the possibilty of Thursday being the final phase of the disembarkation process.

The ship, carrying 3,500 passengers and crew members first docked Monday in Oakland after circling international waters for about five days. While at sea, tests on people who showed symptoms of illness confirmed 21 contracted the coronavirus.

A passenger cheers as medical Personnel help load them from the Grand Princess cruise ship onto airplanes at Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California on March 10, 2020. - (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty

As of Tuesday night, more than 1,452 passengers had been taken off the Grand Princess cruise ship in total, according to the California Office of Emergency Services.

They included:

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613 people taken by bus to Travis Air Force Base

42 people who flew by chartered flight to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego.

124 people who flew by chartered flight to Dobbins Air Reserve base near Marietta, Georgia

98 people who were flown by chartered flight to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.

168 individuals were repatriated via chartered flights to the United Kingdom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said about 100 people are processed and taken off the ship per hour — a consuming endeavor to ensure the safety of workers and meet the needs of passengers. However, he said he wants to see the process speed up so that the ship can leave Oakland within 72 hours.

About 1,100 crew members, 19 of whom tested positive for the virus, will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship, which will anchor offshore after passengers are unloaded. Canada said six of its citizens from the crew flew home Monday and talks are underway to repatriate many of the crew members to their home in the Philippines, Newsom said.

Most of the crew members who tested positive for coronavirus did not show symptoms, a Princess spokeswoman said Tuesday.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Newsom also urged the state’s nearly 40 million residents Tuesday to avoid sporting events, concerts and large gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and adamantly warned the elderly to stay away from cruise ships as he pondered measures to restrict cruise travel off the California coast.

“I don’t think people should be on cruise ships that are elderly,” Newsom said. “I don’t think you should high-five one another and hug strangers at large sporting events if you have an underlying health condition.”

The Princess cruise is docked in Oakland. March 10, 2020

He said legal advisers are reviewing the possibility of restricting cruise travel off the California coast as he awaits new federal guidelines on the cruise industry. In the meantime, he said cruise ships ought to introduce aggressive requirements for travelers “at the peril of that industry collapsing.”

Three people have died and 157 Californians have tested positive so far for the coronavirus, a tally that does not include the cruise ship evacuees. Newsom expects the number of cases to significantly rise as more test kits become available.

Three Transportation Security Administration officers at Mineta San Jose International Airport have tested positive for COVID-19, the agency said Tuesday.

They were receiving medical care and all TSA employees who had contact with them over the past 14 days are being quarantined at home, the agency said.

Many communities have already canceled parades, conferences and large gatherings. Officials in some California cities have gone further. Santa Clara County on Monday announced a ban on all gatherings of 1,000 people or more, putting the status of San Jose Sharks hockey games, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament at Stanford and one Major League Soccer game in question. Many school districts have canceled extracurricular activities or moved classes online.

Newsom stopped short of calling for games to be canceled but said sports leagues and local health officials bear the responsibility to ensure that large events, including games, can be held safely.

“We want to maximize the disruption for nonessential events, so we can minimize the impact of essential functions and events,” he said.

Another Princess ship, the Diamond Princess, was quarantined for two weeks in Yokohama, Japan, last month because of the virus. Ultimately, about 700 of the 3,700 people aboard became infected in what experts pronounced a public health failure.

The virus has infected over 800 people in the U.S. and killed at least 30, many of them from a single nursing home in the Seattle area. Worldwide, about 118,000 have been infected and over 4,200 have died.

For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Most people recover in a matter of weeks, as has happened with three-quarters of those infected in China.